I'm kind of a big deal

I know I've just got a little blog here. My 36 followers (while special to me) pale in comparison to the hundreds upon hundreds I see on some of my friends blogs. And yes, I do still get excited every time I see an email that someone left a comment on a post. 

But the bar has just been raised.

While working this weekend, a girl came up to me and the following conversation occurred: 

Her: Umm... this might seem creepy, but is your name Emily?
Me: ...yes... do I know you?
Her: I read your blog!

Yes, you understood correctly - random strangers recognize me from my blog! That absolutely made my night.  So excuse me while I go put my rockstar face on. 

Yes, I do have a favorite Cathedral

Once Matthew woke up from his train naps, our first stop was Aachen. You might recall that I've been to Aachen a few times before (pretty much every time I've ever had visitors), so I know that it's a fantastic little city. But, hands down, my favorite site it offers is the Aachener Dom - or the cathedral, if you will.

 

Cool story: the cathedral is the oldest one in northern Europe and holds the remains of Charlemagne. That's pretty legit, if you ask me. But even beyond the fun facts, this cathedral is absolutely amazing. I've collected my best pictures, but still, none of them really do it justice. It's average, bordering on small in size, but is the most ornate building I've probably ever seen (and I say this even after having been to the Vatican). Even Matthew was gushing about it's awesomeness the entire time he was there. 

Matthew Lies

When Matthew Boyle came to visit, we kept ourselves very busy visiting lots of different cities around Dortmund. We went to Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen and Bonn, to name a few. And because of our traveling, this meant we were on the train quite a bit. 

Our first trip was to Aachen - the longest of all our journeys. The train ride is about 2 1/2 hours from Dortmund, so Matthew suggested we bring cards or something to do during the long ride. 

But it turns out he had other plans for the trip.

Since it was his 2nd day in Germany, I let it slide, knowing he was still adjusting. Of course, over the next week he did nothing but proclaim how much he did not have a jet-leg was not jet-lagged.

Like how he wasn't jet-lagged when we went to Bonn.

Or how he was completely adjusted to the time when we went to Düsseldorf. 

So the moral of this story? Matthew lies. 

breaking promises

I have to apologize, because I'm about to break 2 promises I made in my last post. First, that I wouldn't be posting for a while (I barely made it two days), and second that when I did post it would be about fun, exciting things that happened during my final weeks in Europe. 

But guys - I got a bookcase! Few things make me feel more adult than a nice big bookcase. It really doesn't take much, people. 

As soon as the new (to me) bookcase was moved into my room, I didn't waste a minute to start organizing it. And I'd say I ended up with a pretty good system!

It's a little ridiculous just how excited I am about my bookcase... So excuse me while I go make googly-eyes at it for a little bit!

I've got bad news and good news

The last 10 days have been crazy. Of course I've been enjoying plenty of the good side of moving home: seeing old friends, visiting old places, enjoying being home. But it's also been incredibly busy.

Last week I had 2 and a half days of orientation activities before diving right into classes on Monday. Wanna know what I've already learned about grad school after two days? There is a lot of reading! These are the books I've got for one class alone (plus 5 more that aren't in the picture).

So here comes the bad news: posting is probably going to be sparse till I get into the swing of things.

But the good news (which is actually a little bit unfortunate for me): I'm way behind on my posting from the last 6 weeks of Germany, which means I have lots of exciting things to write about.

So for the coming months, instead of boring you about my reading lists and lesson planning, I'll be playing catch up with everything from Matthew's visit to Dortmund, our trip to Italy, my Scottish adventures, the return to Franken, Gemma's visit and the great journey home!

13 words

I'm back! Bear with me as blogging will be slow for a while!

last day

Well, it's my last full day in Germany. And no matter how excited I am to get to see everyone in Georgia again or just be back in the US for the first time in over a year, last days are just the worst.


All I can I think when I walk down the street is "that's the last time I'll see that. And do this. And walk here...." ad infinitum. And, to be perfectly honest, it's not true at all. I know I'll be back to Dortmund. "Moving away" just sounds so final. And so mean.


I wish I could write a long, heartfelt post about how much living in Germany for the past two years has meant to me and how it's changed me and how grateful I am and blah blah blah. And don't get me wrong - I'm not saying none of that is true. But I kind of get butterflies every time I think about leaving. So I think I'm gonna have to leave this post at that.


Just know: last days are the absolute worst.

a packing playlist

Over the past week of packing (and yes, I actually started before the night before!), I've discovered the best companion through it all is a good playlist. And I feel as though I've really put together a gem with this one. It's a mix of new and old, relatively unknown and occasionally overplayed, lame and awesome, German and English. And I would completely recommend any one of these songs!